240 
VEETEBEATA. 
ous as to be a pest to the farmers ; the markets of the cities are well supplied with them in the 
winter season. Their flesh is excellent, and they can be tamed with facility. 
Other American species of gronse are the Spotted, Spruce, or Canada Grouse, T. Canaden- 
sis^ fifteen inches long ; found from the State of New York to Labrador : the Dusky Grouse, T. 
ohscurus, twenty -two inches long; the male with neck-sacks like those of the pinnated grouse ; 
found in the Rocky Mountains and on the Columbia Eiver : the Pheasant-tailed Grouse, or 
Cock of the Plains, T. urojohasianus — Centrocercus urophasianus of Bonaparte — thirty inches 
long ; found in the same localities as the preceding : the Sharp-tailed Grouse, T. phasianellus 
— Pedioecetes phasianellus of Bonaparte — seventeen and a half inches long ; found in the Fur 
Countries. 
RED GEOUSE. 
Genus LAGOPUS : Lagopus. — To this belongs the Eed Grouse, L. Scoticus, sixteen inches long; 
general color rufous-brown. This species, as well as the ptarmigan, differs from the preceding in 
pairing every spring, and in being feathered down to the toes. It lives chiefly on the moors, and 
hence is often called Moor-Fowl. It is confined to the British Islands and the Orkneys, and is a very 
prolific species, aff'ording abundant occupation to the sportsman in the game season ; forty brace 
are sometimes bagged by one man in a day. The supplies in the London market are constant 
from August to March. Most of these birds are shot, but many are taken by horse-hair snares. 
They vary in the different counties of England and Scotland; in the county of Durham a cream- 
colored variety is found. This species are often bred in confinement. 
The Ptarmigan or White Grouse, L. vulgaris, is fifteen inches, general color gray in summer; 
white in winter ; feeds on Alpine seeds and berries, and the tender shoots of plants ; pairs in early 
spring; lays eight to ten yellowish-white eggs, often among stones on the bare ground. It 
